Jimmy Kimmel Reveals He Was Behind Olympian’s Viral Wolf Video

ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — Jimmy Kimmel has pulled another viral prank on America. He revealed on his ABC late-night show Thursday night that he was the mastermind behind a YouTube video in which an American luger at the Sochi Winter Olympics claimed she saw a wolf outside her hotel room.

Kate Hansen tweeted the video on Wednesday night, writing, “I’m pretty sure this is a wolf wandering my hall in Sochi.” The 17-second clip, which was also tweeted by Kimmel, showed a wolf walking down a hallway.

The video was featured on newscasts around the U.S., but as it turns out, Hansen had turned over control of her Twitter account to Kimmel’s camp, which posted the video.

On his show Thursday night, Kimmel showed the full video, which included previously-unseen footage of the host trailing the wolf while wearing skis.

Kimmel explained that Hansen sent his crew a snapshot of her hotel hallway, which was used to construct a replica for the video. And a timber wolf mix named Rugby was brought in for the shoot.

Hansen appeared on the show via Skype, telling Kimmel that “there was a little bit more backlash” in Sochi regarding the video than she’d anticipated, but it was worth it. She explained that “security started freaking out because it was technically a breach within athletes’ safety.”

Last year, Kimmel pulled a similar stunt with a viral video in which a woman’s pants were accidentally lit on fire while she was twerking.